What the last year amounted to is a crash course in the real world. “It opened my eyes to the business side of the game,” Walton confessed earlier this week. “Going into it, it’s all about the love of the game. Obviously, I love basketball, I love what I do. I remember at the beginning, I walked into agency meetings and I was like, ‘Look, I don’t really care about none of the other stuff. I just want to make sure I’m in the best position to perform.’ I mean, how dumb does that sound? That’s how naive I was and that’s how I approached it.” Walton, 23, says he knows where he’ll play next season. An agreement is in place, but his agent, Mark Bartelstein, is requiring him to sit on the news until next week. All Walton can put out publicly is this: “Long story short, I’m good. I’m going to a great situation. All I can say.” Having that settled makes it easier to decompress and process his rookie season and the lessons learned.

This is not acceptable...11-year old Jabari Talbot was arrested in school after he EXERCISED HIS RIGHT to not participate in the Pledge of Allegiance. Jabari we stand with you and your mom in stopping the over-policing & criminalization of Black students. #JabariTalbot#TeamRoc